MR. SNOW: Okay, the President's schedule today, normal briefings at
8:00 a.m. At 10:55 a.m. we'll have a tour of the Nashville Bun Company.
The President will make remarks on the budget at the Opryland Convention
Center, discussing how his fiscal policies are going to keep the economy
growing, American's taxes low, and continue to move toward balance in
the federal budget. He's going to highlight the debates and differences
between the two parties when it comes to the economy and spending. At
4:05 p.m. he will return to the White House.

Today, also, there will be on "Ask the White House" -- OMB Deputy
Director Steve McMillan will participate, at 1:00 p.m. EDT today, to
discuss the budget.

A schedule update: Next Tuesday, the 24th of July, the President will
visit the Charleston Air Force Base in Charleston, South Carolina, at
the invitation of Senator Lindsey Graham. He will make remarks to
military personnel. It will be pool for cameras and open for
correspondents.

Questions.

Q Why are we going here today? And is he going to be taking
questions from the audience or anything?

MR. SNOW: Yes, he's likely going to be taking some questions from the
audience. And what he's doing is a speech to highlight, again, the
differences between the two parties when it comes to fiscal discipline.

Q Does he need to do the Q&As outside of Washington for a certain
reason? What's the purpose?

MR. SNOW: Believe it or not, people outside Washington actually care
about the government and they have a right to ask questions of the
President. I think it's -- the President certainly takes plenty of
questions in Washington, and it's always important to hear from people
around the country.

Q Why did you pick the Opry House?

MR. SNOW: Because, basically, it's a good facility where you can pack
in a bunch of people and at the same time have the right kind of --
essentially, people can exchange ideas and conversations. I mean, it's
a good venue.

Q Can I change the subject to Pakistan? Does the President have full
confidence in Musharraf, particularly given the violence there from the
Islamic --

MR. SNOW: Well, I think -- look, President Musharraf has put his life
on the line and has been a very important ally in the war on terror.
It's also clear that Taliban and al Qaeda, in the northwest territories
and the federally administered tribal areas, have begun to put on
operations that threaten the government of Pakistan itself, which is why
President Musharraf, having tried one approach, in terms of dealing with
the tribal leaders, is now going to have to be more aggressive and is
being more aggressive moving forces into the region to deal with the
security problems there.

Q Does the President rule out any U.S. military activity in Pakistan?

MR. SNOW: We never rule out any options, including striking actionable
targets.

Q I'm sorry, including --

MR. SNOW: Striking actionable targets.

Q Well, nobody else is doing it, okay. So is the President
comfortable with not having any kind of deadline for North Korea to
declare and to disarm its nuclear program? As you know, the talks are
ending right now without a new deadline.

MR. SNOW: There will be continued diplomacy. The North Koreans
understand that they need to finish the job not only of shutting down
the Yongbyon reactor, but also making sure that they put an end to the
reprocessing or enrichment of uranium or other fissile materials. That
is absolutely necessary to move forward to the other portions of the
September 13th agreement.

Q Can I just go back to the Pakistan question? Would the President
seek Musharraf's permission to strike an actionable --

MR. SNOW: Again, I'm not going to talk about -- those are matters that
are best not discussed publicly.

Q General Petraeus keeps saying that he views this update in
September as a report, not a call for new policy. But the President is
surely going to be asked to change policy by the Democrats at that time.
Does the President view that as a policy turning point, or merely as a
point to give a -- a time to give a report to Congress?

MR. SNOW: The President -- number one, you do not want to put General
Petraeus in the position of recommending policy. He is somebody who is
conducting a mission and is measuring the success of the mission and
also trying to assess what may be shortcomings in the mission. So what
the President expects is people to look at the facts.

And as we have been noting -- and certainly there are increasing metrics
on this -- if you take a look at the first and predictable result of the
surge, which is increased engagement with the enemy, you have seen
significant changes on the ground as a result of U.S. efforts and also
as a result of efforts by the Iraqis. That is something that members of
Congress need to take into account. Obviously, there are also a lot of
political considerations that are of interest in Washington. People are
going to have to measure them. They'll see what happens come September
15th.

Q You said Charleston, with Lindsey Graham -- you said that was at
Senator Graham's invitation?

MR. SNOW: Senator Graham's invitation.

Q Do you think they'll talk about Iraq? Senator Graham is a skeptic
of the President's policy on Iraq.

MR. SNOW: We'll let you know when we get closer. He'll be making
remarks to military personnel.

Q This subject today is the budget. Does the President have any
concern that Jim Nussle won't be confirmed? Is he aware of anything
that might stand in the way of his confirmation?

MR. SNOW: No, we -- look, Jim Nussle is qualified. He has
demonstrated, through a long career of public service and certainly
familiarity with the budget and the budgetary process, that he is well
suited to the job and we want to see him confirmed.

Q Do you have any hold on his nomination?

MR. SNOW: I don't, personally, but I don't frankly know what the --
that's probably something addressed to leg affairs if you want a fuller
answer on it. I'll try to get you some background.